7.20.2015

Age of Sigmar

Hey, there. I’m still
getting caught up on things after two back to back conventions, so I haven’t
made any real progress on the Gargant.
Probably won’t this week, either, because edits are due on Friday.

However... it’s a pretty standard tradition for my friends
and I to have a few (read: several) drinks the night before San Diego Comic-Con
and play a game or two. And this year,
we decided to take Warhammer: Age of Sigmar for a
spin.

Now, I’m not going to talk too much about the actual
gameplay. Marc’s posted a simple battle report and some thoughts over on Atomic Warlords. But I did want to mention a few things, more
from the hobby/modeling point of view.

First, Age of Sigmar was a lot of fun and very easy to pick up. If you have any familiarity with tabletop
games, you can sit down and be playing in about fifteen minutes absolute
tops. Probably much less.

Second, it’s a very cheap game. The rules are free. The war scrolls are free. If you were a Warhammer
player before, you already have a ton of models (and the rules are extremely
thorough—they cover pretty much everything).
Even if you’ve only played Warhammer 40,000 before (like me),
you’ve probably got a few models kicking around that you have for conversions. There’s also a lot of folks online selling older models or pieces from the old Island of Blood starter set. And past that, there’s
probably going to be some folks rage-quitting and dropping their models in the bits bins or putting them up on eBay.
Which brings us to...

Third, or maybe second-point-five... you don’t need a
lot of models to play. Because there’s
no force organization chart or points minimum, it’s possible to play Age of
Sigmar with as little as one model. It
has lots of single-model battle scrolls.
A knight on horseback. An
Ork. A witchhunter. A Skaven
warlord. A wight king. That’s all you need to play. If you happen to have a small squad or unit
of some sort, that’s even better. I
spent a day digging around through my random bits and discovered I had almost
fifty viable units, spread over nine different races/ factions, some assembled,
some in parts. Get three or four units
(or even just models) for the same army and that’s the basis of a solid game.

Fourth, (or three, depending on how you read the last one) there is
paperhammer scenery for Fantasy settings.
Lots of it. Warhammer and
Mordheim both have a collection of useful templates, ranging from a burned out
farmhouse to an elaborate inn. Plus I’ve
talked before about other cheapscenery ideas that would work in a
Fantasy setting. I’m thinking I might
have to try a few simple ideas for a graveyard, a simple building or two, and
maybe even some ancient ruins.

Now, I can see where the rules could be frustrating to an
established player, especially a competitive one. As a new player, though, without any
preconceptions of how Fantasy should be played, I think it’s a great
little game. And it means I’m going to get to build and play with a lot of
things I’ve had kicking around for ages for one reason or another.

I’m sticking Age of Sigmar in the win column for now. Your thoughts may vary...

I don't even think I'm going to buy the box set. I've got enough models of my own and my local store seems to be quietly selling off a bunch of the existing Warhammer stuff. I think that'll keep me busy for a long time.

...There Is Only War!!!

I'm a long-time Warhammer 40,000 fan who thinks there's a viable middle ground between the folks who insist on dropping a few hundred dollars to get a usable army and the people who show up with a rubber dinosaur to represent a Carnifex or some green army men bulking out their Imperial Guard platoon.

Don't get me wrong. I love Games Workshop's models and I hate seeing a milk carton standing in for a Land Raider. But when a financial crunch forced me to become a lot more thrifty with my toy soldiers, I didn't stop playing. I just found ways to customize and create perfectly usable units with the resources I had. And I've done it enough that I think it's worth sharing with anyone who's interested.

So save a few frozen pizza boxes, grab some white glue, and let's build an Imperial Knight that any loyal servant of the Emperor would be honored to have fighting alongside them.

Disclaimer

Warhammer 40,000, Imperial Knights, Orks, Necrons, Dark Eldar, Alpha Legion, Relictors, Thousand Sons, Death Guard, Ultramarines, White Scars, Kroot, Khorne, Nurgle, Slaneesh, Tzeentch, Age of Sigmar, and many other terms and images used on this site are trademarks of Games Workshop Limited, which does not sponsor, endorse, or authorize this website. Please visit the official Games Workshop site at www.games-workshop.com